Defenders of Man Network Access Point

Defenders of Man Network Access Point

Result

Combatants

Commanders

Defenders of Man Network Access Point is a custom map made by Blizzard Entertainment as part of the marketing campaign for the first mission pack of StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops. The map involved the community coming together to find a series of passcodes, to be rewarded with images of the missing ghosts and the truth behind the disappearance of Nova Terra. For completing the map, Blizzard announced they would be rewarding the entire community with a Defenders of Man portrait[1] and decal on March 29th.[2]

Contents

Years after the End War, various Terran Dominionghosts began to disappear, with no explanation as to how or why. In addition, popular opinion began to turn against the Dominion, who the population began to see as slow and weak, and people instead turned to renegade militias such as the Defenders of Man. Radio Liberty began to dig into the truth behind the disappearances, but their station was raided, and two of their crewmembers were taken hostage.[3]

Michael Liberty, who had been tracking Nova Terra, one of the missing ghosts, sent what he had gathered through heavily encrypted means to Radio Liberty listeners. He met them in a chat channel, then gave them access to the Defenders of Man network. The listeners broke through the security of the system, finding profiles for Nova, Stone, Delta Emblock and Theodore Pierce in the system. When they reached the end, they found footage showing that Nova Terra assassinated undercover Dominion agents in the base.[4] This was sent to Radio Liberty, then to Matt Horner. The footage of an agent being assassinated was leaked to Universal News Network, who speculated whether or not aspects of the Dominion's military had gone rogue.[5]

Defenders of Man Network Access Point was part of a series of challenges leading up to the discovery of the map. First players were challenged to decrypt secret messages in two Dominion Intelligence Section messages and send them to radioliberty@blizzard.com. These messages were "SCOUT AHEAD" and "GATHER INTEL."[6] Then, a post was made saying that the lead was false, but a message was hidden in the text saying "EMAIL US SUBJ HELP." Those that did email Radio Liberty with the subject line "HELP" got a response, that told them Michael Liberty said to "keep your eyes peeled because the writing may be on the wall."[3]

Later, on the twitter Kate Lockwell an image was posted with the number 1-949-346-1009.[5]Calling this number would lead to Michael Liberty, who said he wasn't talking until the right question was asked. This was later unlocked for everyone, and Michael Liberty told listeners the coordinates B3 C4 F3 F5, which corresponded to a map. Also hidden in the message was white noise that when filtered and played backwards said "Let's meet at The Americas in channel Liberty. I'll be there March 24th, 10am PST."

Players who met in the battle.net chat channel "Liberty" at 10 AM Pacific Standard Time were given a link to the map by an account named "MLiberty".

When all numbers are divided by three and coveted to letters, the communication ID translates to "THROUGH THOUGHTS YOU MIGHT LEARN THAT OTHERS CAN BURN AND FIND SOME ARE WEAKER BUT SHOW MORE CONCERN." The answer is "TELEPATHY PYROKINESIS EMPATHY," three psionic powers referenced in the text.